A Memory Not Soon Forgotten
by Sukita Uchiha
Summary: Kendle Bassett. The Black Order's newest Exorcist. But there are a few strange things about this girl: she insists on protecting Lavi, her eyes change color with emotions, and her Innocence is like nothing they've ever seen. Just who is Kendle?
1. Chapter 1

**A Memory Not Soon Forgotten - Chapter 1**

Lavi extended his hammer to a size five or six times his own, smashing it down with all his strength. In an instant, the opposing Akuma disintegrated into a pile of nothing. With a clumsy smile on his face, Lavi rested the handle of his hammer across his shoulder as it moved to its original size.

"Well that was easy!" he blurted. He looked over his shoulder. "Hey Allen! You done yet?"

Allen's claw ripped through the final demon and he returned Lavi's stare. "Yeah, thanks for the help."

Lavi shrugged. "Hey, I helped. And you looked like you had it covered." He moved the small hammer from his shoulder and placed it in its holster, brushing his hands together to clear them of the dust.

"Well, there wasn't any Innocence here. Should we head back?" Allen queried, the Crowned Clown no longer in sight.

Lavi shrugged again. "Guess so. It's not like we have anything better to do."

"Allen! Lavi!"

Lavi leaned back a bit, his head staring upside down at the black golem he'd been asked to take with them. "There's a new Exorcist at the gate. Komui wants you guys back now." It was Lenalee's voice.

Lavi turned himself right side up again and saluted. "Got it!" he replied in a cocky tone. The transmitter switched off as Lavi fixed his head band back into place. With a final adjustment to his orange scarf, he followed Allen back down the road they'd come from.

* * *

A small purple butterfly hovered over the scene of the destroyed Akuma. With a flit of its wings, it landed on the extended discolored hand that called for it.

"Well now, a new Exorcist?" the man repeated, stroking the tips of his butterfly's wings. His index finger and thumb clutched the brim of his hat as he raised his face, revealing the stigmata crosses that aligned themselves across his forehead.

"It does seem the Black Order intends to make more trouble for us." He turned his back on the scene and the opposite direction of Exorcists was the path he walked.

"I do believe it's my task now to let the Earl know," said Tyki Mick.

* * *

Lavi's footsteps came to a sudden halt when Allen stopped walking to keep himself from crashing into his fellow Exorcist. "Eh, what're we stopping for?" Allen's face was smooth, so he assumed it wasn't anything along the lines of an attack. But then why did he stop? Lavi cleared the distance between Allen and himself in a few strides and followed his line of sight. When he caught sight of what had stopped Allen's steps, he tilted his head to the side.

"The new exorcist?" he guessed.

Allen nodded his head. "Probably. But…."

"But what?" Lavi turned to his friend and froze. Allen's cursed eye was in affect and it was eyeing the girl.

"She's an Akuma?!"

Surprisingly, Allen shook his head. "Yes it's true my eye is reacting to her, but…Akuma have a soul attached to them. I can't see anything." Lavi turned his eyes back on the girl. What should they do? Chances that the girl was following the Earl were an easy 50-50. But it was just as easy a 50-50 that she really was an Exorcist.

"Hello!"

Allen looked up. She was calling to the gate as he had done when he first arrived.

"My name is Kendle Bassett and I'm here to request a meeting with a supervisor!" she called.

One of the many golems that surrounded the Black Order's large tower flicked to life and hovered over the girl's head. She smiled at the sight and held out her hand. The little golem landed on her palm without a moment's hesitation.

"May I ask who I am speaking with?" she said. So she knew what the golems were.

A pause, then, "My name is Lenalee Lee. Nice to meet you."

Kendle smiled. "Nice to meet you too Lenalee. I came to speak with a supervisor. Could you help me out?" There was another pause. Lavi guessed she was conversing with the science department or Komui.

After a moment or two, the golem lit up again. "Komui is the head of the Science Department here. He's cleared you. But if you don't mind, he'd like you to wait."

"Oh? And why is that?" Kendle didn't sound as though she was accusing or getting upset, just questioning.

"Two of our exorcists are coming back from their mission. He'd be more comfortable he said if the two of them cleared you too." Lavi braced himself, expecting the girl to be offended or start yelling at them. Instead, she surprised him yet again by smiling and releasing the golem back into the air.

"Of course, I'll wait." She collected her suitcase from the ground and set it up right, sitting down. Turning to Allen, he waited for him to decide what he wanted to do.

"Let's go." Allen stepped forward from where he'd been bystanding and walked up to the girl with a friendly expression on his face. Kendle caught sight of him almost immediately and stood up, offering her hand for him to shake.

"I'm Kendle Bassett," she greeted. Well at least she was friendly when she spoke to people in person. "A Miss Lenalee told me two of the Black Order's exorcists were coming back and a Komui wanted them to check me out. Make sure I wasn't evil or something along those lines." She chuckled. "Can I assume you are them?"

Allen took her head and shook it formally, giving her a smile Lavi could tell was slightly forced. He seemed comfortable though, like being around her wasn't a problem. "I'm Allen Walker. And this is Lavi."

Lavi waved childishly, giving her a smile. "Nice to meet ya." Kendle smiled.

"Oh, so you're Lavi." Lavi blinked, straightening his back. This girl knew who he was? How?

"How do you-"

"Oh, I've heard of you before," she explained, releasing Allen's hand and reaching down to take hold of her suitcase. "Well Allen? Do I pass?"

Allen flinched. "Oh right…Yeah. I don't see a problem." He replied.

Kendle clapped her hands. "Yay~ Alright, Lenalee I pass!" she called up to the golem that continuously hovered above her.

"Kay, gate open."

The gate clashed with the rock walls as it slid open. Kendle adjusted her suitcase in her grasp once more before walking inside. She seemed fascinated with the place, a smile always on her face. He took another look at Allen: his eye was acting up again. Lavi turned to Kendle, trying to find what was wrong. They'd already deduced that she wasn't an Akuma of any sorts; the lack of a soul attached to her body was obvious proof of this. So…just who was she?

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Kendle leaned over the railing and stared up at the seemingly infinite tower structure above her.

"Wow, it's so big!" she yelled, chuckling when she listened to the echo it produced. Lenalee, who had been kind enough to show her around the Order, smiled at her easily amused demeanor.

"Yes, it's big."

"Lenalee, who is this and what is she doing?" a hard voice sounded from behind her. It sounded irritated. Kendle turned to face him. His hair was long and held in a high ponytail, two strands hanging on the sides of his face; his hair was an odd color of an almost bluish purple from what she could tell. He was dressed as an Exorcist so she knew to respect him since she herself wasn't yet an Exorcist officially and he had obviously been doing this longer than her, making him a senior to her.

"Hello, I'm Kendle Bassett." She greeted, holding out her hand. He stared at it like it was a strange object, and then huffed.

"Ignore Kanda. He's always grumpy when he comes back from a mission." Lenalee said as if to assure Kendle it wasn't her who was the reason for Kanda's hard attitude. "This is Kanda Yu. He's an Exorcist here too."

"So I gathered." Kendle responded. She looked to the side as if to look behind him, staring at his sword. "Is that your Innocence?" she asked. Kanda didn't answer. He just walked away. Kendle waved after him, holding her hand high in the air. "Nice to meet ya Kanda!" she called. Lenalee chuckled, causing Kendle to turn and look at her. "What?"

"Well, you sure handled meeting Kanda better than Allen did. The two of them got along as well as cat and mice."

Kendle blinked. "Wow. I didn't think Allen was that kind of person."

Lenalee shrugged. "He has his moments." Lenalee looked at Kendle who suddenly looked as though she was searching for something. "Is something wrong?" Lenalee inquired.

Kendle kept looking about her. "Uh, no…Have you seen Lavi anywhere?"

So, she was looking for Lavi? Hmm. "Well, I think he went to his room," she answered, only to look up and find Kendle was already headed away.

"Thanks, I'll find it myself! I appreciate the tour Lenalee, bye!" Lenalee felt obliged to go after her and show her the way, but she'd insisted that she'd find it herself. And if not, she'd most likely either run into Lavi himself or into someone who could point her in the right direction. For now, she turned on her heel and headed for the cafeteria, remembering Komui had asked that she send Allen to him. Wait, and Lavi too! Oh well, she'd get him later.

* * *

Lavi opened one eye after the sudden sound of someone knocking on his door. He propped himself up on his elbows. "Who is it?"

"Kendle!" came the answer.

Kendle? What did she want… "Door's open." He said. The doorknob twisted and Kendle opened the door, shutting it behind her. She smiled, sitting down on a chair in the corner of the room. She didn't say anything, just sat there. "Um, what did you want?"

"Nothing."

Lavi sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. "Then, why did you want to come in?"

"I'm watching you."

Okay, creepy. What was with this girl? She came around her acting like they'd been buddies for years. "Why are you watching me?"

"It's my job."

Well, she sure was quick with her responses, Lavi gave her that. "Who told you to?"

"No one you know. But it's still my job."

Lavi sighed, closing his eyes and lying back down on the bed. He obviously wasn't going to get much of a response out of her right now. He turned on his side, facing the wall. He'd try again later.

"Lavi?"

He lifted his head slightly to indicate he was listening.

"I think Komui was looking for you and Allen. I just remembered."

Lavi turned on the bed and sat up once more reluctantly. He slipped his hammer into the holster on the side of his leg and threw on his jacket. Turning to the bedside table, he retrieved his green headband and slipped it over his forehead. "Alright, tell him I'm coming."

"But I'm walking with you."

Lavi didn't bother to retort, ask why, or protest. He'd already learned that much just by speaking with her now. Standing up, he sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Alright then, let's get going."

Kendle sat up immediately and followed behind him, almost like she was following orders or something. She kept quiet, though, the entire way to Komui's room which was, as usual, half unseen with an almost invisible floor underneath all the papers. Reever was here too. He was poking Komui, attempting to wake him up.

Lavi took a seat on the couch next to Allen. "Know what this is about?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest. Kendle leaned her elbows on the back of the couch, resting on her chin at the top.

Allen shrugged, giving a smile. "My best guess is it's something about Innocence. He usually isn't that tired unless he's been up all night." Lavi nodded knowingly. In total, the people in the room were at 6: himself, Allen, Kendle, Komui, Reever, and Lenalee.

"You'll never wake him up that way." Lavi reminded Reever.

Reever sighed and leaned down to whisper into Komui's ear. "Komui, Lenalee's getting married."

Instantly the man was up and clinging to Lenalee's leg, tears streaming out like a sprinkler. "Lenalee how could you do this to me?! How could you get married without telling your older brother?!" Kendle jabbed her pointer finger at Komui without raising her head.

"That's Lenalee's older brother? They don't look anything alike…" she muttered.

Lavi nodded. "Yeah, that's Komui Lee. He's the chief of the science department," he informed.

Kendle didn't answer.

"Sorry Lenalee that was the only to get him up." Reever apologized. Lenalee let out a sigh as if to say that this was the norm kind of day for her. She kicked her brother off of her leg.

"Komui, get ahold of yourself. I'm not getting married." Komui shot an accusing glance at Reever who held his hands up defensively and walked out without another word. Komui pulled his hat down over the giant bump on his head and coughed once or twice as if to pull himself into a more serious performance.

"Well, first things first." He looked up from the paper he was holding and nodded to Kendle. "Welcome to the Black Order."

Kendle smiled happily, lifting her head up for the first time since she'd entered the room. "I'm glad to be here. Everyone's been so nice." Lavi rolled his eyes under his eyelids; he'd closed his eyes. She obviously hadn't gotten to know Kanda yet.

"There is one more thing you'll need to do though; we're going to have to have Hevlaska check out your Innocence."

Kendle stood up, straightening her back. "Mine is a parasite type and it takes two forms: one is in my fingers which I can use as claws for up close combat. The other is in a guitar which is more for long distance fighting." She informed. Komui nodded throughout her explanation.

"Tell me your name again?"

"Kendle Bassett, sir."

He stood up and crossed the room. "Lavi, Allen, I'll brief you in a moment. I need to take Kendle down to Hevlaska. Kendle's expression suddenly dropped.

"Can't they come?"

Komui looked as though he didn't know what so say, but he eventually shook his head. "This is something that should really just be between the three of us." Kendle sighed.

"Well alright, if those are the rules…" she mumbled and followed Komui out the door. She stole one more glance back at them, her eyes shifted to Lavi, and then she shot down the hall after her guide.

"She's an odd one," Allen commented. Lavi leaned back against the couch and put his hands back behind his head without comment.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

- - - - - - Kendle stared up in awe at the beautiful creature in front of her.

"Wow, you must be Hevlaska. You're so pretty…" she murmured. Hevlaska acknowledged the compliment with a nod of some sorts.

"Hevlaska, what can you say about her Innocence? Show it to her Kendle."

Kendle extended her hand out and forced her claws to show themselves. Her arm from her elbow to the tips of her fingers turned a brilliant white color and her fingers turned to claws that each stretched about a good 7 inches to a foot each. Komui stood aside as Hevlaska bent down to observe the Innocence. She took her time, as Komui assumed she was counting the girl's synchronization percentage. After a moment's passing, she backed away and Komui noticed a sudden regretful expression on the girl's face.

"How is this possible?" Hevlaska murmured as Kendle forced her claws away.

"I'm not entirely sure either." she admitted with a shrug. Suddenly, she looked up at Hevlaska with serious, hard eyes. "I need to protect the Bookman, though. That's why I'm here."

"Bookman?" Kendle shook her head and turned to Komui.

"Wrong one."

"Wait you mean…"

She nodded her head. "I have to protect Lavi." Silence. No one said anything for quite some time and even in the silence the slightest shuffle of feet or ruffle of clothing echoed in his ears.

That's what this girl was here for? To protect Lavi? But why and how did she even know who Lavi was?

"Please understand, my superiors sent me." Her superiors? Did she work for the Earl? No. She wouldn't be so serious about protecting an exorcist is that was the case. "It is my assignment to protect him. You see…."

* * *

- - - - - - Lavi tapped his foot lightly on the ground. What was taking them so long? Allen continued to stare over his shoulder every once in awhile and look back at the doorway as if he expected them to show up. Lavi stood.

"Well, I'm gonna-"

"Sorry we're late guys~" rang Kendle's voice from the doorway. She had a bubbly personality on, as usual, but Komui's expression was slightly more stressed.

"Uh, Komui you okay?" Allen asked worriedly.

Komui smoothed out his face and smiled. "Yes, everything's fine. It's just so rare that we encounter a parasite anti-Akuma weapon such as Kendle's. It's a lot like yours." he replied.

Kendle beamed at the praise and took a seat next to Allen. Lavi narrowed his eyes. His memory as the upcoming Bookman was remarkable. Even the slightest details of anything were scratched into his memory at first sight. He'd seen that expression enough times on Komui's face to know that he was hiding something and his expression was but a lie to them, to keep them at bay from the truth he was concealing. But he didn't press for information. "So, what're we here for?"

"Oh, right. Well, in the northern regions of the continent is a town known as Lito. We sent some Finders there to investigate."

"Investigate what?" Kendle asked almost immediately. Her tone had taken on a serious manner and her eyes were hard, a reddish orange color with a black tint around the edges. An interesting color, but who was he to judge? He turned back to look at Komui.

"The townspeople were all giving us the same report of a small girl traveling the town."

"What's so odd about that?" Allen asked.

"Well, none of the townspeople know this girl and they said she's been there for over 23 years. Thing is, she's still the same age as when she arrived 23 years ago."

Allen's mouth was agape, Lavi personally couldn't believe what he was hearing, but Kendle didn't seem phased.

"So you're saying that it may have something to do with the Innocence."

Komui nodded, enough of a response.

"Where are the Finders? We need to be able to catch up with them and rally their information with ours."

Komui was silent.

Lavi stood up, matching Kendle's step forward. "Komui, where are the Finders?"

He sighed sorrowfully. "Of the 13 Finders were sent out, only…only 6 of them are left."

"What?!" Kendle and Allen's voice ran out in unison.

"How can that be?" Lavi demanded.

"Well, it would seem that something is picking off our Finders one by one. The only clue we have is that they say they hear an odd sound like a child's laugh before someone goes missing. That's all they were able to communicate to us. Any connection lines were cut off, but they should be somewhere north of the train station."

"We'll find them." Kendle promised, turning on her heel and heading out the door without another word. Lavi stood up after Allen and was the last to exit the room. But before he left, he caught a glimpse of Komui's expression: confused and afraid.

* * *

- - - - - - Kendle glanced below her, her hands griped firmly on the railing of the bridge. "So, we jump onto the top of the train? That's how we get in?"

Lavi smirked. "Hey, no problem if you're scared, you can wait up here." He offered.

Kendle turned to stare at him, giving him the typical 'yeah right' face. "No one said I was scared." She retorted. She looked back over the railing, leaping onto the top of it. "Train's coming." She braced the soles of her shoes against the metal, releasing the railing with one hand. With a smile, Lavi got up next to her and leaned forward a bit.

"One, two–" Kendle jumped, sailing through the air and actually landed with hardly a noise on the top of the train. "Hurry!" she called to them.

Lavi leapt into the air, Allen falling closely behind them and they landed on to train a few feet away from Kendle. Compared to her landing, theirs looked clumsy and unpracticed. When they met up with her, she'd already opened the hatch and dropped inside.

"Um, you guys really shouldn't be getting in through there," fretted one of the train attendants.

Kendle gave him a charming smile. "Don't worry, we have reservations." She pointed to badge on her jacket. She'd changed into their new uniform before they'd left for the mission. She didn't wear the typical long sleeved shirt and skirt like Lenalee was fond of, and she'd refused to wear the long uniform like Kanda and Allen wore, so she went with the outfit that Lavi and Miranda took. She wore the jacket open and a white shirt underneath similar to Lavi, though his shirt was green.

The attendant bowed his head. "Terribly sorry ma'm, right this way."

Kendle smiled again. "Thank you very much. It should already be paid for."

"Of course."

- - - - - - Allen nodded politely to the attendant as they entered their reserved room. He'd remembered the Finder he'd been with on his first mission having the same conversation, relishing the memories until Kendle's fingers snapped in his face.

"Allen!"

"Oh, sorry, what?"

She sighed. "I was asking if you had any idea of what the Finders typically keep with them."

Allen stared off into space for a moment, closing his eyes. He snapped his eyes open and looked back at Kendle. "They always have a communicative phone that they keep on a backpack…Why?"

He looked at her, finding her eyes closed and her hands resting on her knees. She looked like she was concentrating hard on something. Allen made the decision to not disturb her.

- - - - - - Opening his eyes, Lavi rubbed the one eye that wasn't covered, realizing that his headband was around his neck. He must have fallen asleep on the way there. He rolled his head to the side to glance at Kendle. Her eyes were still closed and her hands were still holding her knees. He wondered briefly if she'd fallen asleep and pulled off his jacket; it probably wasn't much, but it helped he guessed. Since she was still sitting straight up, he had no problem placing his coat around her shoulders. He lay back against the seat of the train and closed his eyes again, turning his head to the other side.

"Thank you."

Lavi sat up and turned his head back to Kendle, but she looked as though she hadn't moved her position at all. Then he realized that there was a smile on her face. He leaned back, shutting his eyes and gave a tired shrug.

"Eh, don't mention it," he replied, quick to fall back asleep. Kendle finally opened her eyes and looked at Lavi for a moment, her eyes soft and a small, satisfied smile on her face. Then she faced forward again and sealed her eyes.

- - - - - - Lavi awoke the next morning to the feeling of Kendle shaking his shoulder.

"Lavi, Lavi wake up." When she was sure he'd opened his eyes, she cleared the distance between her and Allen in one stride.

"Allen, wake up. Come on, we're here." Allen groaned, sitting up and rubbed his eyes. With a groggy and reluctant look on his face, he picked up his bag and flipped it onto his shoulders. When she turned back to Lavi, he'd already stood up and was readjusting his headband back onto his forehead. She walked out the door of their room and down to the train door, quickly finding herself in view of their window. She waved for them to come out. As Lavi followed Allen out the door and off the train as well, he soon realized that he was wearing his coat again. Kendle must have given it back to him while he was sleeping. He shrugged it on so that it fit better and stepped off the train just as the doors were closing. The two of them met up with Kendle at the assistance office.

He came up just as she was asking, "We came looking for some friends of ours. They should all be dressed in whitish, almost cream colored garments?"

The man put a finger to his lip, and then snapped his fingers. "Now that you mention it, I saw some people like that about maybe two or less weeks ago. There were about 13 or so of them."

"That's them!" Allen called to her.

She turned back to him swiftly. "Do you know where we might find them? We're in a bit of a hurry."

"I think they were headed for the northern most region of town. Somewhere close to our border with the next town over."

Kendle waved to him and ran down the sidewalk after Lavi and Allen. "Thank you very much!" she called.

As they ran, Kendle wondered if the chances of finding the other 7 that were missing was possible. But she had the odd feeling that those chances were close to zero, and not very probable.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

- - - - - - Kendle's footsteps made barely a sound as they traveled from rooftop to rooftop. Allen in front, Lavi beside her.

"Hey, Lavi!"

Lavi turned his head to look at her. "What is it? Something wrong?"

She shook her head. "No, but I was thinking: Komui said that there was a child here who hadn't aged in 23 years. And whenever a Finder goes missing, the others hear the laugh of a child. Don't you think the two are related? That this kid could be the one behind it all?" she asked.

Lavi looked forward just in time to dodge the chimney, leaping over it and onto the next roof. He nodded. "It's highly likely, in fact that's probably it. But the best thing we can do right now is locate the Finders and see what they can tell us. Our priority is protecting them first."

Kendle agreed quickly and sped up her pace so that she caught up with Allen in a matter of moments. "Allen? I think I have an idea of where they are. Follow me!" She didn't allow him to ask questions and sped ahead, turning sharply to the left when she hit the next shingle of the passing roof. She twisted her neck around to see if they were following: good, they were. Fixating her concentration on what she was searching for, she shut her eyes and allowed their auras to be her guide.

- - - - - - When her pace slightly slowed, Lavi came up and matched her steps.

"Uh Kendle? Where are we-"

He looked at her face.

"Kendle! You're gonna crash!" He sped up swiftly and came to a halt in front of her.

She almost crashed into him, but he grabbed her shoulders. The rough, skidded halt caused her to blink a few times before actually opening her eyes. She took a look at Lavi, breathing hard and a worried look in his eyes, and tilted her head. "Lavi, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? You were going to crash!"

It took her a moment, but she finally understood what he was fretting about and chuckled. "Lavi I wasn't going to crash. I could still see; I was following the scent of the Finders."

Lavi's hands dropped to his side. "Following…their scent?"

She nodded, and then smiled. "It was nice for you to care about me, though."

Lavi felt his cheeks flush for a moment before she took a step around him, closing her eyes once more.

She titled her head up and sniffed once. Then she opened her eyes halfway. "Come on, I found their scent." Almost like she was getting ready for a race, she braced herself against the ground and shot like a rocket down to the road.

He watched her stop every once in awhile at a house, sniff deeply, and then move to another one. Finally, she stopped at one house and turned back to them, waving them down.

"I found them!" she called.

Lavi and Allen gave each other a blank look and jumped down to meet her. She pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and poked it into the lock. When it clicked, she forced the rusty door open and stared blankly at what she saw inside. The Finders were there alright…but they were in a worse shape then she could have imagined. Their clothes were tattered, you could clearly see their ribs underneath what remains of clothes they had left, and dried blood streaked their faces along with bruises that laced their skin.

"My…God…"

Allen and Lavi walked past her and began inspecting their wounds for possible infections. As far as she could tell, no one was hurt fatally. One of them was unconscious, but he would wake up soon enough.

- - - - - - Kendle bent down next to the one Finder that she deemed in the best condition. "Can you tell us what happened?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her with a hopeful look in the green depths of his eyes. "Exorcists…we knew you'd show up…"

With a smile, Kendle put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Of course, my name is Kendle. Now, what happened?"

The man took a deep breath. "I am Tita. The one next to me is Ket, next to him is Nathan, that's Cren, beside him is Kigon, and the one in the corner, he's hurt the worst, that is Kor. We were attacked by a group of level 2 Akuma and…something we…we didn't recognize." He flinched and Kendle's hand fluttered over him helplessly.

"Okay, don't talk anymore. We need to fix you guys up. Allen! Look in my bag, there should be medicine and first aid kits in there. See what you can do for Kor."

Allen nodded obediently and rummaged through her pack until the kits she'd told him of were in his sight. Immediately, he flipped it open and searched first for the bandages, proceeding to cover the worse of his wounds.

"Lavi, see if any of the others can describe or give us more information on the attacker. Also, give them some of the food we brought with us."

With a nod, he turned to the others and asked questions of the least injured and gave them what food they had while Allen helped attend to the wounds as Kendle followed behind him to make sure that every injury was covered.

* * *

- - - - - - The table was already prepared for their arrival. Noon was the time of day so lunch had been laid out. Road sat in the corner next to the head of the table, a seat reserved always for the Earl. Skin sat with his typical, sour expression on his face; his spot was placed towards the center of the table, two chairs down from Road. Tyki himself sat on the opposite side of the table, directly in front of Skin. And finally the twins, Jasdero and Debitto or Jasdebi, sat across from Road. They were messing around with their guns, occasionally pointing them at each other and threatening to shoot, then laughing at their joke. It forced a roll out of Tyki's eyes. He watched absent mindedly as Skin snatched an egg from a platter that sat near Jasdebi and popped it into his mouth. Cartoonish tears suddenly started to streamline down his discolored face.

"It's not sweet." he complained. With an angry fist, he brought it down on the plate, sending the eggs splattering across the twin's faces. After the remains of the yolk smeared down their blank faces, both of their lips curled into smiles.

"Food fight!!" Debitto yelled, picking up one of the still-in-tact eggs and tossing it at Skin's face. It crashed against his forehead, leaving an angry red mark behind. Skin bolted from his seat and reached in front of Road to grab a pie, chucking it with everything at them.

- - - - - - Unfortunately for Skin, Jasdero ducked just in time and the pie went skyrocketing into the wall, splattering the odd crimson colors with white and other various colors. Jasdero stuck his tongue out at Skin while Debitto mimicked his brother only mere feet away.

"Haha!" they mocked.

Usually Skin would take this much further and launch himself across the table at them, but the Earl walked in at the worst time he could in Skin's case.

"You're all so incompetent." He remarked, keeping that creepy clown smile on his face in the process.

Skin angrily sat back in his chair and huffed. Debitto sat down in his chair while Jasdero knelt on the ground with a pencil, drawing odd shapes and pictures on the tablecloth. He would chuckle every once in awhile.

"Well Earl, I know you didn't just invite us for lunch." Tyki commented, side glancing the Earl. "What is it you wanted to speak with us about?"

"It actually has to do with the little matter of the exorcist girl you told me about."

Tyki paused. He'd been about to remove his hat when his hand froze where it was. Removing his hand from the brim of his hat, he stared at the Earl in confusion. "Why? Isn't she just like any other exorcist? Since when does it matter…" he wondered, half aloud, half to himself.

Road seemed like the only one listening. She seemed intent on this subject, her eyes glinting with mischief.

"Because this one doesn't have Innocence." the Earl replied simply.

Now this, this statement alone, those six words brought everyone's attention crashing into the subject.

"Wha?" was all the Twins had to say.

Skin didn't say a word, but his face clearly showed the shock. Road's expression hadn't changed. If anything her eyes had gotten even darker with mischief that they had been before.

- - - - - - "But if she doesn't have Innocence, why is she an Exorcist?" Road asked curiously.

The Earl took a bite of the egg. Unlike Skin, the fact that it wasn't sweet didn't seem to bother him at all. Of course. "Because she can still kill Akuma."

"That's impossible." Tyki argued. "The Akuma can only be destroyed by either each other, or the Innocence."

"That's why I'm sending you and Road to investigate. Find her when she's by herself. She probably hasn't been told of the Noah Clan yet, so use that to the advantage."

Tyki sighed. Things were getting more and more complicated. What were they going to come up with next? He wondered. He stood up from his spot and picked up the deck of cards that sat next to him. "Come on Road." He called.

Road shot up from her seat and grabbed Lero's handle.

"Eh, lero! Why do I have to come, lero?"

"Because you're fun. Oh can't I bring him with me?" Road asked the Earl.

The Earl shrugged. "Don't see why not." Lero fidgeted with words, but came up with nothing.

"Let's find this Exorcist girl soon. Something tells me she'll be interesting." Tyki murmured.

* * *


End file.
